Abstract: The disclosed data stream optimization process is containing two logical entities, the first being the pre-comparison optimizer component and the second being the comparison component. The pre-comparison optimizer component performs two discrete tasks. First, the input data stream is written into a next state buffer. Second, the elimination of redundancies involves detecting and removing redundant screen attributes, since the terminal's execution time for processing a screen attribute is more than that required for a data character. The comparison component contains three distinct sub-components. First, non-data constructs such as commands and orders are optimized and placed in the outgoing data stream. Second, the screen image that is represented by the data stream is compared to the existing screen image to further reduce the outgoing data stream.